Report - Kirklees College, Huddersfield - March 2021

[Specter]

The History

This part seems to have been done by multiple others, so ill keep it brief.
The current Kirklees College site consists of the newer buildings (I use this word sparingly...) and the original grade 2 hospital building.
The infirmary was opened in 1831 in response to concerns about industrial accidents and was funded by public donations. It was originally set in landscape gardens with the main building being modelled on greek temples, through additions it grew from 20 beds to 85 by 1885.

From news articles the building itself has been set on fire quite a few times, Dates I can find are 16 June 2016, 16th November 2016, 14th February 2020 and 4th March 2020.


The "Visit"

Yet again another visit where I go it alone, which seems to becoming somewhat of a habit for me.

I found access to be exceptionally easy, it seems like everyone and their 90 year old gran can get into this site and that no one really cares for it anymore.
That being said the people that I did manage to bump into when inside were more than friendly, strangely the graffiti artists were friendlier than the explorers. After a quick chat I quickly learned about the underground "air raid" shelters which naturally piqued my curiosity. However I had arrived fairly late in the day and if my information about the security was correct I wouldn't have much time to explore the massive site, so I opted to return another day.

On the day of my return I yet again found access completely unrestricted so I bobbed in and started to set up my camera on the somewhat... Moist flooring, the reason became apparent to me very quickly. It seems that everyone feels the need to set fire to this place, each of the buildings has some form of fire damage or evidence that someone has tried to set fire to the place.

I continued through the fire damage anyway to see if I could find any hidden gems and the second thing to hit me is this place is absolutely trashed.... The ceiling is pretty much falling down everywhere but I was made blatantly aware of this when I walked into the health and safety offices and battered my head on the first head level suspended ceiling part I could find.

Finally if your like me and definitely not a fan of spiders There are some absolute beauties in there..... One which I only noticed after I was going through my photos....





This is the first sign of fire damage pretty much as soon as you enter.

The roof in the main library building melted due to a building fire

Chemicals left in the old science block

Definitely seen better days but at least some of the desks still remain

The following are taken in the underground "air raid" portion of the original 1831 hospital.

Dark wasn't the word for this attempt

Strangely underground they still have windows just nothing on the opposite side

There was 3 of these massive pumps sitting hidden away

Pump controls

I have a fair few more photos which I may upload later.
Thanks for Looking




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[Calamity Jane]

Nice report. Those melted shots are rather arty. Like this

 

[Specter]

Thanks your comments are more than appreciated

 

[dave]

The place has gone down rapidly since i was there. not a bad effort considering whats left a few things i missed too, having said that i doubt i will be going back. Thanks for the update.

 

[Chickadea]

Hate spiders. Invested in seeing the picture of it though
Place looks a complete mess now, thanks for sharing

 

[tweek]

1831 air raid shelters?

 

[Specter]

1831 air raid shelters?

I use the words cautiously hence why there in quotations. It does seem to have a partial area in the basement which is domed and made from red brick which could have been added after the original build. Currently doing a bit of digging into this.

Hate spiders. Invested in seeing the picture of it though
Place looks a complete mess now, thanks for sharing

The quality is pretty naff tbh, mainly because it wasn't my intended subject but the size of it stood out

 

[tweek]

I use the words cautiously hence why there in quotations. It does seem to have a partial area in the basement which is domed and made from red brick which could have been added after the original build. Currently doing a bit of digging into this.

Yeah I think they were cold stores for bodies.

 

[Specter]

Yeah I think they were cold stores for bodies.

Cant agree with you more, Nothing screams shelter at me. However there is one part where the theory plausible which would need to be investigated at a later date.